Commonwealth Numbered Acts

AUSTRALIAN SECURITY INTELLIGENCE ORGANIZATION ACT 1979 No. 113 of 1979 - SECT 59

59. (1) If the Attorney-General certifies, by writing signed by him, that the
disclosure of information concerning a specified matter, or the disclosure of
the contents of a document, would be contrary to the public interest-

   (a)  by reason that it would prejudice security or the defence or
        international relations of Australia;

   (b)  by reason that it would involve the disclosure of deliberations or
        decisions of the Cabinet or a Committee of the Cabinet or the
        Executive Council; or

   (c)  for any other reason specified in the certificate that could form the
        basis for a claim by the Crown in right of the Commonwealth in a
        judicial proceeding that the information or the contents of the
        document should not be disclosed, the following provisions of this
        section have effect.

(2) A person who is required by or under this Act to disclose the information
or to produce the document to the Tribunal for the purposes of a proceeding is
not excused from the requirement, but the Tribunal shall, subject to
sub-sections (3), (4) and (6), do all things necessary to ensure that the
information is not, or the contents of the document are not, disclosed to any
person other than a member of the Tribunal as constituted for the purposes of
the proceeding, and, in the case of a document produced to the Tribunal, to
ensure the return of the document to the person by whom it was produced.

(3) Sub-section (2) does not have effect in relation to disclosure to the
Director-General or his representative where the reason specified in the
certificate is the reason referred to in paragraph (1) (a).

(4) Where the Attorney-General has certified in accordance with sub-section
(1) that the disclosure of information or of the contents of a document would
be contrary to the public interest but the certificate does not specify a
reason referred to in paragraph (1) (a) or (b), the President may, if he is
satisfied that the interests of justice outweigh the reason specified by the
Attorney-General, authorize the disclosure of the information, or of the
contents of the document, by the Tribunal to an applicant.

(5) In considering whether information or the contents of a document should be
disclosed as mentioned in sub-section (4), the President shall take as the
basis of his consideration the principle that it is desirable in the interest
of securing the effective performance of the functions of the Tribunal that
the parties to a proceeding should be made aware of all relevant matters but
shall pay due regard to any reason specified by the Attorney-General in the
certificate as a reason why the disclosure of the information or of the
contents of the document, as the case may be, would be contrary to the public
interest.

(6) Nothing in this section prevents the disclosure of information or of the
contents of a document to a member of the staff of the Tribunal in the course
of the performance of his duties as a member of the staff of the Tribunal.

(7) This section excludes the operation, apart from this section, of any rules
of law relating to the public interest that would otherwise apply in relation
to the disclosure of information or of the contents of documents in
proceedings before the Tribunal.

(8) Where the Attorney-General has given a certificate under sub-section (1)
in respect of a document, this section applies in relation to a document that
is a copy of that document as if the copy were the original document.

(9) For the purposes of this section, where the Director-General, in
accordance with sub-section 57 (1), has lodged with the Tribunal a certificate
of the Attorney-General given under sub-section 38 (2), the certificate shall
be deemed to be a certificate certifying to the Tribunal that the disclosure
of the information to which the certificate relates would be contrary to the
public interest by reason that it would prejudice security.

(10) It is the duty of the Tribunal, notwithstanding that there may be no
relevant certificate under this section, to ensure, so far as it is able to do
so, that, in or in connection with proceedings before the Tribunal,
information is not communicated or made available to a person contrary to the
requirements of security.